- How often the people who engage me have never been to a civil naming, but just know they want some formal ceremony to name and welcome their child into their family and immediate community but have no idea of what it consists of.
- How often wonderful spontaneous expressions of love and support and really heart-warming evidence of really good parenting occur during a naming ceremony
- How often, during the ceremony preparation phase clients introduce a request for something they'd like at a naming ceremony by saying "If we're allowed.....
My response to No 3 is commonly a threat to take a baseball bat to their heads if I ever hear those words coming out of their mouths again.
Seriously, folks, when you hire a civil celebrant, you have the cheque book, you are in charge.
The role of a civil celebrant, as I see it, is to be an inspired listener, extracting from you information about what you feel and need and would like, and then to be a facilitator who uses that information to make suggestions and develop a ceremony that meets your needs.
Til next time
